Members sstought Posted March 24, 2011 Members Report Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone had tried alternatives to gum tragacanth to use when burnishing leather. Tragacanth is expensive, and I'm wondering if anyone has run tests on gum arabic, guar gum, or xanthan gum, and what the results were. Are there reasons you can't use these similar products, ie damage to the leather, discolouration, dries poorly, etc? Thanks Sean St. Edited March 24, 2011 by sstought Quote
Ambassador pete Posted March 24, 2011 Ambassador Report Posted March 24, 2011 Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone had tried alternatives to gum tragacanth to use when burnishing leather. Tragacanth is expensive, and I'm wondering if anyone has run tests on gum arabic, guar gum, or xanthan gum, and what the results were. Are there reasons you can't use these similar products, ie damage to the leather, discolouration, dries poorly, etc? Thanks Sean St. What's not happening with the gum trag? It's only a few dollars for a small jar that will last you a long time. What is it that you wish to do? I never use it for edges-water and saddle soap work great pete Quote
Phatdaddy Posted March 24, 2011 Report Posted March 24, 2011 water or beeswax for me sometimes saddlesoap. Quote
Members sstought Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) I'm really looking at this out of curiosity. 5tsp of powdered tragacanth seems to make about 1L of a thick syrup that works just fine on the leather, which only cost $6. However, I'm interested in finding out of similar products would do a similar job. I'm running a few experiments of my own at the moment (will post when they've had a day or so to dry), and I'm interested to know if anyone else has done these comparisons, and what their results were. I think that liter of tragacanth its going to last a while, unless it goes off somehow, but tragacanth is generally hard to find, and there might be some people out there who cant find it or want a cheaper solution. Edited March 25, 2011 by sstought Quote
terrymac Posted March 25, 2011 Report Posted March 25, 2011 If you want a professional finish on your edges, read Hidepounder's tutorial in this part of the forum. He explains why he won't use it and why. I personaly don't like the way it looks on the edge and the resulting finish. Terry Quote
Members sstought Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 25, 2011 Which tutorial is this? I tried to find it with the search in the forum, but I'm not sure which tutorial you were referring to. Could you post a link to it? Quote
Members dbusarow Posted March 25, 2011 Members Report Posted March 25, 2011 Which tutorial is this? I tried to find it with the search in the forum, but I'm not sure which tutorial you were referring to. Could you post a link to it? About the middle of the pinned topics in this section. Finishing Edges Dan Quote
Slickbald Posted March 25, 2011 Report Posted March 25, 2011 My two cents- The Bee Natural "Leather Finish" works great. I put it in Weavers edge dye tool instead of dye and just roll it on. Quick and leaves a great edge when burnished. Quote
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